In the last post, we saw about the circumstances that forced God to think about appointing a king for the nation of Israel. In this post, let us see how God went about in doing it.
Since the people of Israel were very particular in their request for a King, God finally decided to grant them a king but not before warning them with the consequences that they would face with the earthly king. We read about these in 1 Samuel 8:10-17. But the people were not ready to give up their demands, they were very stubborn.
In 1 Samuel chapter 9, we read an account of how God went about choosing Saul to be the king of Israel. Now, Saul was an ordinary young man, a Benjamite from the smallest tribe of Israel, but the Bible says he was handsome and a head taller than anyone else.
The donkeys belonging to Saul's father Kish were missing, he asked Saul to go in search of them along with a servant. After searching at a few places, Saul decided to give up,and he said to his servant 1 Samuel 9:5 "When they reached the district of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, “Come, let’s go back, or my father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us.”
Saul was an impatient man. We could see many instances of his impatience as we read through his story, and it was one of the qualities in him that led to his downfall.
The servant told Saul that they could meet Samuel, the man of God and he would be able to give some details about the donkeys. In the meantime, God spoke to Samuel about Saul, 1 Samuel 9:15-17 "15 Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed this to Samuel: 16 “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.” 17 When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the LORD said to him, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.”
Now imagine, if the servant was not there, Saul would have lost his opportunity due to his impatience. Saul meets Samuel, and Samuel gives tells him of three things that should happen before he can become a king, we can read all these in 1 Samuel chapter 10. Samuel asks Saul to wait for him for 7 days, but again Saul could not wait due to his impatient nature. Amidst all these, Saul was anointed by Samuel as the first King of Israel.
I would like to close this with a beautiful verse from 1 Samuel chapter 10, verse 6 "The Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person". Yes, when we are filled with the Holy spirit of God, our personalities would change. This then, is the journey of Saul from an ordinary person to becoming the king of Israel, a magical change of life that was orchestrated by God alone. Even today, the same God could work wonders in our lives if we obey and trust Him.
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